The Genuine Self and Other Myths

Like most people, my online presence is very different from how I act in person. For one, I never say, “Here’s the top 25 worst things about long car rides” and proceed to list each and every one.

But there’s other things too.

My sass level on this blog is what I would call moderately high, and what most people would call quite high. In real life, I’m really nice to you…until I know you well enough to insult you and assume you realize that I do it affectionately.

Those that I do not know very well have told me to go back to Canada because I’m too nice for the United States. Which is particularly stressful considering I am originally from the United States, and have never resided in any part of Canada.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, people that know me well have been known to use some choice words to describe, erm, my personality type, and would hesitate to let me go up north.

Selfie Excuse

In person, I may be a confusing mixture of sweet and salty, but there is one constant. And that is, my friends, that I am not at all eloquent. I speak using proper grammar when I manage to string a whole sentence together. However, that is a rare and elusive feat. Typically, my speech sounds like that of a senile old lady.

“I went to that one place the other day, you know, like, with the thingy? And it was really cool or whatever, and, like, you know what I’m talking about? That, like, place? Anyways I went with my friends and one of them said, oh, shit, what was it? About that one thing at the place?”

A good friend of mine put her hand on my shoulder the other day and said, “Words, dear. Use them.”

I actually got the name of this blog from how often I use the phrase “or whatever” because I can’t seem to spit out my main idea. This blog is supposed to be everything I imply when I use the term. That’s why the tagline is “odds and ends and such”. It’s all the weird bits and pieces that never make it out of my mouth. This blog isn’t a projected version of me, even if it’s not the ‘me’ I am in person. This is an outlet for my internal monologue. This is the girl in my head. Sarcastic, annoyed, but forever in wonderment at the world around her.

My writing is my genuine self, in a sense. What you see isn’t always just words. My writing is a portrait of head and my heart. It’s the splatters of creativity from my veins. It’s the tapping of my feet, the chattering of my teeth, the flicking of my fingers, and the song of everything left unsaid.

My writing doesn’t have to be straight from my heart, mind you. I have an amazing ability to completely BS an essay. I can use my extensive vocabulary to appear to analyze a given topic extensively. But I would never BS my way through blogging. And in that sense, dear reader, I’d say you know me pretty well.

Do you feel that your genuine self appears in your writing? Would people be able to attach your writing to your personality? Comment and let me know or whatever. And don’t forget to click the follow button. Peace out.

Interesting thoughts. I don’t think anyone has a single genuine true self. I guess it would depend on the definition of genuine.

People change their “self” depending on the section of society they are interacting with at the time. Your “work self” would be different from your “family” or “close-friend self”. And mostly likely a contrast to your “blogger” or “online gamer self”. Online personas particularly have a larger audience of people with diverse views, so we are often more expressive online – there is a higher mathematical probability of connecting with someone else with the same viewpoint.

All this is what makes humans such a unique species on this earth – the ability to adapt and behave differently based on the environment. This is also evidence of why we don’t belong here. (but I digress. I guess one of my “selves” is an Ancient Alien Conspiracy Theorist who just needs an opening to get started on his favourite rant.. back I say, back, you!)

Coming back to the question – which self is genuine? Is it the 8 hour work self or the 4 hour family self or the 1 hour blogger self? Does time have anything at all to do with it?

Modern social psychology dictates we act differently depending on the situation. A few psychologists out there (although you might be hard-pressed to find them) believe that we lack real personality, and everything we do and think relies entirely upon circumstance.
My friend who is Buddhist was explaining to me the idea of the ever-changing self the other day. It’s the idea of not having a one true self, instead, your internal self is constantly changing. And an article I read about it made a lot connections between modern psychological theory and the main ideas within this theological idea. Pretty cool, no?
Also I had a red velvet muffin yesterday and 10/10 highly recommend.